Michael Mancuso/The TimesPrinceton Battlefield Society vice president Kip Cherry speaks from the podium during a press conference held in June at the Princeton Battle Monument at Princeton Borough Hall, announcing that The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Princeton Battlefield to its list of America's 11 most endangered historic places.

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP — Opponents of a hotly contested plan to build housing on land adjacent to Princeton Battlefield State Park have appealed a planning board decision allowing the Institute for Advanced Study to proceed with the construction.

In March the regional planning board voted to allow the IAS to build 15 homes on the land, which opponents say should be protected because it was the center of George Washington's counterattack on the British during the Battle of Princeton.

The Princeton Battlefield Society has appealed the decision, citing land-use laws and alleged planning board errors during hearings that preceded the vote, Kip Cherry, the society's first vice president, said today.

The appeal comes two months after the contested land was proclaimed one of America's top 11 most endangered historic sites by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Cherry said that the national trust has since provided the society with an adviser.

Among other issues in the appeal, the society argues that the IAS is barred from building in buffer areas around the state park and wetlands in the area. The appeal also charges that the planning board prohibited the society from calling witnesses during the marathon hearing who would have spoken against the institute's application, Cherry said.

The appeal filed in Superior Court in Mercer County is the second of three legal challenges the society had planned. A suit filed in the Superior Court's Chancery Division in April alleged that, in proposing the construction, the institute was in violation of a 1992 agreement with Princeton Township.

A lawsuit alleging the housing project would violate the Clean Water Act is also in the works, Cherry said.

The institute has said its plans would not impede on historically significant land and that the homes, which will house faculty members, must be close to the IAS campus to maintain its close-knit community of scholars.